MAYWEATHER PUSHES UNBEATEN MARK TO 46-0
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
San Francisco, CA– The “biggest and best player” in the game, Floyd Mayweather Jr. retained his #1 ‘pound for pound’ status with a Majority 12 round decision over Argentine Marcos Maidana with the official scores being 117-111, 116-112 & 114-114. The one even score was closer to reality from this perch than the two Nevada judges who had Mayweather winning widely.
TASMANIAN DEVIL OFFENSE GETS MAIDANA EARLY LEAD
Working behind a buzz saw offense being thrown from non traditional angles, Marcos would take it to Floyd for the first 4 rounds, if not 5. Only Brian Kenny of the Showtime crew saw the Argentine winning a good portion of the early rounds as Al Bernstein and Paul Malignaggi had Floyd up after six. It would appear the two Nevada judges Bert Clements (117-111) and Dave Moretti (116-112) didn’t give Maidana enough early credit. You could have made a case for Marcos being up 6-0. Judge Michael Pernick had things even at 114-114.
MAYWEATHER STRONG IN SECOND HALF
In the end it was a battle of conditioning and will as Mayweather edged Maidana. You can argue about some rounds from five on, but Floyd came back winning with flashier punches and superior ring generalship. The last criteria was the one Mayweather was the far superior in. Maidana was crudely effective when he was throwing those shots from everywhere and landing on Floyd, a tactic that should have earned him a big early lead.
REFEREE “TOO QUICK” ON THE TRIGGER?
There were no knockdowns, nobody hurt and referee Tony Weeks need look at the first Roberto Duran-Ray Leonard fight and the work of referee Carlos Padilla. Maidana, smaller like Duran had to work his way in and Floyd would grab. As the fight went into the second half, referee Weeks was way too quick to separate the fighters.
NON-FIGHTERS ALL MISSED THIS BOAT
With Floyd holding, Maidana should have been allowed to work inside as that was his only chance. Commentator Paulie Malignaggi tried to broach this, the rest of the non-participant Showtime guys never backed him or this throughout the fight.
LESSER GUYS NOW “TOUCHING” MAYWEATHER
WBC/WBA welterweight (147) and super welterweight (154) champ Floyd is now 46-0, 26 KOs and Maidana dips to 34-4, 31 KOs. There was talk of a rematch afterwards, led by Showtime’s Jim Gray made me change the channel. Look, B-level fighters can give Floyd a fight at 37 years of age, but they can’t beat him.
Amir Khan’s welterweight debut against Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KOs) went right about the way Team Khan drew the fight up in the gym. Wobbled badly once, Khan’s chin held against non-puncher from New York. Getting reckless cost Collazo who was dropped thrice by the one time British prodigy.
JUMP FROM 140 TO 147 A BIG JUMP IN WEIGHT
Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) looks thick to me at 147 and think he’d be better off at 140. And while I’m NOT the guy fighting the scale, I made the jump from jr. welter to welter it was too big a size difference that I went back down. Scores were 117-106, 119-104, 119-104.
BRONER INTRO CALLED “INSULTING” BY BRITS
Adrien Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) won a ten round unanimous nod over light punching Carlos Molina (17-2-1, 7 KOs). Broner lost to Maidana last time out at 147, made 140 for this one. His rap music intro was full of F-bombs and the British TV team took great offense.
NO POINT DEDUCTION FOR “INTENTIONAL” FOUL
When Broner threw Molina to the ground with great force in round three, in what was an unprovoked, obvious and deliberate foul, referee Kenny Bayless issued a “hard” verbal warning when it should have been an automatic one or two point deduction. Scores read 100-89, 99-91, 98-92.
J-LEON LOVE THE NINO LAROCCA OF 2014?
Promising super middleweight (168) J’Leon Love (18-0, 10 KOs) survived a hell-like fifth round and knockdown to douse Mexican Marco Antonio Periban (20-1-1, 13 KOs) with a UD 10. How Periban let Love survive he will ask himself until the day he dies. Scores were 95-93, 97-92, 96-93.
ARTHUR ABRAHAM RETAINS WBO BELT IN BERLIN
WBO 168 lb. guy Arthur Abraham (40-4, 28 KOs) kept the belt with a UD 12 over Nikola Sjekloca (26-2, 8 KOs) Saturday night. The much more powerful Abraham walked Sjekloca down early before a hand injury put “AA” in a “just get the win” mode. Scores read 116-113, 116-112, 119-110.
Pedro Fernandez